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Alice-Azania Jarvis: Two women with a lot in common

BTW...

Alice-Azania Jarvis
Friday 22 July 2011 00:00 BST
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It's her moment, all right. I think we all know who I'm talking about – a certain RB, notorious for her grip over the popular mind, her startling ability to penetrate the subconscious. Responses to her latest performance have been damning – though let's give the girl a break. She's only 14, after all.

I speak, of course, of Rebecca Black, whose single "Friday" whizzed round the internet, offering such profound non-rhyming couplets as "Tomorrow is Saturday/Sunday comes afterwards." It is truly the anthem by which this column lives. But it's her follow-up that's caught our attention today. Called "It's My Moment", the tune sees RB refuse to give up, against the odds. Over and over and over again. Oddly familiar, though we can't fathom why.

* A warm welcome to N. Ravi, recently departed editor of India's Hindu newspaper. In this week of rolling heads, it's his resignation letter – handed in after 20 years of service – that positions the writer in the ranks of the lesson-in-manners mother-in-law Carolyn Bourne. "Megalomania and a crass disregard... has brought the institution to this sorry state," Mr Ravi writes. Wonder what he'd make of the News of the World.

* Fine journalism comes in many forms, though suffice to say some scoops are bigger than others. So hats off to David Brody of America's CBS for his intrepid work on this one. "We answer the burning questions of 2012," writes Brody on his blog. "Such as: What are Sarah Palin's favourite movies? What is Michele Bachmann's favourite food? Does Rick Perry prefer Texas Toast or Biscuits and Gravy?" So much to think about! Let's just home in on one: Ms Bachmann's favourite food. "Straight up celery," says the Tea Party heroine. "I will personally consume the entire stalk." Well fancy that.

* What are we to make of the news that the newly crowned Miss England is, in fact, Welsh? Alize Lily Mounter, 22, hails from the quiet village of Beddau in the South Wales valleys but saw no reason why her beauty-queen ambitions should stop at the border. And indeed that's not what devotees of the contest are grumbling about. The problem is that she previously contested the Miss Wales title – and lost.

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